


Sheep-ish

by The_Warden



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Cat Cafés, Daisuga Winter Weekend 2017, First Dates, Gen, Gloves, Knitting, M/M, Scarves, Sledding, Snow, Winter, Yarn, commuting is rough, learning a new hobby, yarn shop
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-12-03
Updated: 2017-12-03
Packaged: 2019-02-08 22:42:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,485
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12874602
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/The_Warden/pseuds/The_Warden
Summary: It all begins when Daichi wants to be more productive during his morning commute. After seeing someone knitting on the subway, he is inspired to learn. One morning, when Daichi brings his knitting on the subway he is approached by a handsome stranger.





	Sheep-ish

**Author's Note:**

> It’s DaiSuga Winter Weekend on Tumblr and I’ve never actually managed to get one of these prompts done on time. Sorry, it’s a little late but I’ll work on finishing the rest of this before too long! Just using this weekend’s event as writing practice so I can get back into the habit of writing at all. This work is mostly unedited. Also, for those that are wondering I do knit. I tried to keep this 100% factual and in-line with what I know about knitting so it won’t grate on other knitter’s nerves. :)

The moment that Daichi is able to grab a seat on the subway, he sighs in relief, and immediately leans his head back against the window. To the casual observer, it looks like he plans on falling asleep with the way his arms and legs are crossed and his eyes are closed. After a few seconds, Daichi jerks his head up and blearily blinks. He almost _did_ fall asleep.

Daichi rubs his eye, willing his brain fog to dissipate. He sighs in annoyance as he shifts to get comfortable again.

As usual, Daichi starts to wonder about how he can be productive during his commute. It’s only reasonable. He’s on the subway at least 40 minutes a day and if it’s a heavy traffic time, it could be upwards of an hour and a half.

He has tried to read on several occasions but it always ends with Daichi getting a massive headache and feeling nauseated. Daichi tried passing the time on his phone but half of the time it was basically useless seeing as the subway is mostly underground. He doesn’t want to listen to music or podcasts on the subway. He wants to be able to hear what is going on around him.

Daichi shifts again. _There’s gotta be something I can do._

He looks up and sees someone across the way bundled up tight for winter, knitting. Daichi idly watches them slide the needles and yarn in and out of the work with ease. It is like watching water flow downhill. It looks so calming that Daichi feels himself zone out while watching this stranger.

And then it clicks.

 _I could do that._ Daichi thinks excitedly to himself. _And I know just the person to ask._

Kenma, Daichi’s former college roommate, used to knit when they were living together. It was his “cool down” hobby. Kenma’s friend, Kuroo, used to hide Kenma’s handheld gaming device when he was starting to get too involved in a video game. He would then leave a yarn project in Kenma’s path so he would focus on that instead.

Kenma always liked to keep this hands busy and he always liked the challenge of knitting. Daichi can remember a few times where Kenma let out a small triumphant “Yes!” when he got the pattern correct after several tries.

Daichi always found the hobby fascinating but never pursued it himself. College was far too hectic for him to start learning a hobby that was so time consuming.

It was perfect!

In his excitement, Daichi types up a text message to send to Kenma when he isn’t underground.

_Daichi: Hey Kenma! Long time, no see (or talk, rather). I was thinking about trying knitting. Do you have any good tips for beginners?_

Daichi waits for a patch of good service and hits send. He fidgets with his phone until getting a reply a minute later.

_Kenma: Daichi, it’s good to hear from u. :) First off, knitting takes patience. Do not get discouraged. Call me when you get frustrated. Secondly, a pair of short straight knitting needles size: 5mm and worsted weight yarn are the most common starter “kit” for beginners. U can get those pretty much anywhere that sells craft supplies. Wut are u going to make?_

Daichi mouths the words, “when you get frustrated” to himself. A sliver of doubt slides down his spine, maybe he still wasn’t ready for this. Daichi sighs and tells himself to stop being ridiculous.

_Daichi: I’m not sure what to make first. Do you have any suggestions?_

_Kenma: Scarf. Just back and forth until u get the hang of the mechanics._

_Daichi: Okay, thanks for the help! I’m sure I’ll be talking with you again very soon._

_Kenma: I look forward to it. :)_

Daichi’s leg jiggles throughout the rest of his ride home. He all but jumps up from his seat when the subway slows down for his stop. When the doors open, he speed walks through the small crowd, up the stairs, and then out onto the street. The second he opens the door to the outside, he’s met with a ferocious cold winter wind hitting him in the face.

Daichi doesn’t slow down, he just pulls his jacket tight around him. He has a pretty good idea where he can go to get the knitting supplies he needs in order to start knitting tonight.

He has seen a fairly large craft shop off of his usual path home from the subway station. He usually notices it when he’s walking home after stopping off at a local yatai on the way first.

Daichi finds the shop easily enough by the big windows and the bright lights. It’s a clean display with a mannequin standing in front of a large white oval, wearing a multi-colored knit sweater dress and a big black belt. There’s a crate in the window that has yarn balls spilling out to show off their colors to the passer-bys on the street.

He adjusts his jacket again as the wind picks up. He looks at the hours posted on the door and sees that it’s going to close in less than 20 minutes. Daichi waffles. His hand reaches out to the door handle, hesitates, and pulls back his hand.

 _How long does it take to get set up?_ Daichi wonders. He quickly looks back at Kenma’s text to see exactly what he said to get.

_5mm needles. Worsted weight yarn._

Daichi sucks in a steadying breath, reaches his hand up again, and pushes the door open. A little tinkle is heard throughout the shop. “Hello?” Daichi calls out.

“Hello!” comes a response that is so quiet, Daichi almost missed it. A raven-haired young girl wearing thin-framed glasses sticks her head out from a large pile of bins filled with multi-colored yarn. “Can I help you find something?”

Daichi gulps and rubs the back of his neck, “I’m not sure what I’m looking for. I’ve never knit before but I want to learn.”

The raven-haired girl’s eyes widen behind the frames on her face, she looks quickly to the clock behind the counter. She bites her lip. Daichi couldn’t help but think that this girl was pretty. Pale face, long dark hair, and her lips were a shiny shade of pink as if she just put on a fresh coat of lipgloss.

“Do you have an idea of what you want?” she asks.

Daichi recites the message from Kenma in a way not unlike a military recruit. After the girl’s initial reaction of surprise at having an order shouted at her like she was a drill sergeant, a look of relief passes over her face.

She leads him to the back of the shop, to the right of the register, where the needles are stashed in a large pull-out storage unit. Daichi sees the needles are sorted by size and then by length.The girl’s fingers flick through the needles before she reaches out and grabs a set of 5mm straight needles. “Here.” she says, “They’re the only brand we have in stock right now because of the holiday season.”

“Oh. Thanks.” Daichi looks at them. They’re a simple set of bamboo needles. They look nice enough.

“Bamboo needles are popular choice for beginners. The stitches don’t slide around so you’re not as likely to have your stitches just slip off the end.” the young girl says as a way of reassuring Daichi that even though there wasn’t any selection at the moment, the needles are not bad ones. “Let me show you the worsted yarn.”

She leads Daichi to his right towards the back and off to the side. There’s a long white table in the middle of this section of the shop. “We sort our yarns by weight. The thinner yarns are more towards the front. Usually, they’re more eye-catching whereas the worsted tends to look more simple.” the girl explains.

Daichi understands exactly what she means when she stops in front of a large section of rather plain looking yarn. The yarns up front has multitudes of colors in their twisted shape where the worsted yarns are generally big balls of one color.

“Worsted weight is meant to be more durable. That’s why it’s so popular for beginners, kids clothes, and making sweaters. These sections are also machine washable, which is always a big perk so you won’t accidentally felt your work.” the girl explains pointing out a few various yarns to Daichi.

“Felt?” Daichi asks.

The girl points towards a felted hat on display, “This. This was once a simple knitted hat but they decided to felt it by putting it in the wash. Some wools are better for that than others. However, those bins I showed you, they _won’t_  felt if you put them in the wash.”

“KIYOKO!”

The sudden outburst makes them both jump.

“Yes, grandmother?”

“Tell that boy to hurry up. We’re closing in 10 minutes!” The voice is coming from behind the counter. Daichi can barely make out an older woman’s head sticking out from a backroom behind the counter. He can see a set of stairs that she was standing on.

“Yes, grandmother.” the girl looks down as she waits for her grandmother to disappear into the back room. “I apologize for my grandmother’s behavior. She can be a bit rude to customers.” She says so that only Daichi can hear.

“I see.”

“Do you have a color you like?” Kiyoko asks, trying to steer the conversation back to why Daichi came in in the first place.

Daichi’s eyes wander over the different colors. He sees a set of gloves off to the side. They’re a nice blue with a wild orange pattern. He steps closer to it to see that it’s a pair of gloves with a design of an octopus on them.

“These are really cool.” Daichi says, he tentatively touches the fabric between two fingers. It’s soft and warm. “What yarn is this made of?”

Kiyoko looks at the tag on the project, “It’s made with this yarn selection over here. It’s a nice merino wool. This yarn brand has some nice colors.”

“How long do you think it will take for me to learn how to knit well enough to knit those gloves?” Daichi asks.

Kiyoko looks at Daichi with a hint of skepticism in her eyes. “It depends. If you start today and work diligently on learning how to knit, it could be a week or several months. Some people who knit would never attempt something like those gloves because it intimidates them. It just depends on the person.”

“Oh.” Daichi is a little disheartened by the answer.

Kiyoko looks to the clock again, “I’ll tell you one thing though. There’s a session on Saturday mornings at 9am for learning knitting basics, if you can make it. You can buy 4 knitting help sessions for 2800 yen. Good for whenever you feel you need help. It doesn’t have to be 4 consecutive weeks.” Sensing Daichi’s panic, Kiyoko changes tact, “There’s also a free knitting circle that meets up later at 10am on Saturday if you wanted to stay and talk to experienced knitters.”

Daichi frowns.

“They’re a friendly group. Don’t let my grandmother fool you. Most knitters are not like that. I teach the basics class and will be around working the shop if you need more help. The best way to learn knitting is to keep at it.”

Daichi nods and stares at the yarn, “I’ll hold off on the lessons for now. Maybe I’ll start with black. That’s a good basic color.”

Kiyoko gives Daichi a side-eye, “I don’t know. Black will be hard for you to see your stitches. I usually encourage a nice blue or a lighter color for beginning.”

Daichi feels his face turning beet red in embarrassment, “You must think I’m an idiot.” He sees a nice teal color and picks it up.

“No, you’re just inexperienced.” Kiyoko smiles at Daichi, “Is there anything else I can get you?”

“No. That’s enough for me today.”

“I can ring you out back here.” Kiyoko says heading back towards the register. She dutifully rings up the items and put them into a small paper bag for Daichi, “Your total is 2289 yen.”

Daichi tries very hard not to look surprised by the total and isn’t entirely sure how well he succeeds. He pays Kiyoko and takes the small bag off the counter. Kiyoko hands him his change, his receipt, and thanks him for his business.

“Should I expect to see you this Saturday?” she asks.

“I-I’m not sure.” Daichi says feeling embarrassment creep back into his face.

“Oh. See you around then.” Kiyoko smiles but her smile seems saddened now.

“Good night, thank you for your help.” Daichi bows before exiting the store with another little tinkle of the door.

*****

Daichi yawns as he waits for the subway the next morning. He now understands why Kenma said, “when you get frustrated” about knitting. He never knew that holding knitting needles would be so difficult for him to master. He felt ridiculous and ashamed in his own apartment last night trying to figure out how to comfortably hold both of the needles and yarn.

It didn’t help that he had been overwhelmed too. He had no idea that there were different methods to starting a project. He didn’t have a clue what the difference between a long-tail, a provisional, or a knitted cast-on. He tried the knitted cast-on because it looked far less intimidating in the video than the other two.

He then tried to look up a knitting pattern for a beginner scarf online.

He instantly regretted it.

There were just too many for his brain to process. Some were simple looking but there were a lot of scarves that seemed to have a lot of holes made in them. How is that even possible? How is that warm?? He wondered.

As he sees the subway car approach, he hastily rewatches a short video demonstrating the knit stitch. He has probably watched this video fifty times since last night but he still isn’t sure he’s doing it right.

The subway stops and the doors open. Daichi gets on quickly and finds a seat. He takes out his knitting and stares at it. He has cast-on 20 stitches like the pattern he chose said but with each row, the sides seem to be getting wider. The scarf is also a bumpy texture rather than the smooth look he was used to associating with a knit sweater or scarf.

The subway lurches forward as Daichi attempts another row. The movement of the subway makes it harder to see exactly where Daichi is sticking his needle.

By the next stop Daichi’s eyes are already tired from straining so hard. His yarn is trying to slide off his lap and onto the floor. He quickly catches it just before it does.

Daichi is ready to pack up the knitting as a failed experiment when he hears a voice above him.

“Are you wearing the yarn or is the yarn wearing you?” a voice asks.

“Excuse me?” Daichi asks with irritation in his voice.

“It looks like you’re not the boss of your knitting there.” the voice says. Daichi looks up to see a face of a young man with gray hair and a mole by his left eye close to his face.

_Pretty._

“The boss of my knitting?” Daichi asks, more trying to understand what is going on, not that he’s misunderstanding what the young man is saying.

“Yes! Be the boss of your knitting. Don’t let it defeat you!” the young man says with a smile. “Because trust me, it will defeat you if you let it.”

“So I keep hearing. Between, you, the yarn shop I bought supplies from, and my old roommate, the only thing agreed upon is the fact that knitting will kick my ass.”

The young man _laughs_ long and loud at that.

 _Fuck, he’s cute._ Daichi thinks, his eyes growing wide at how the young man’s face lights up while he’s laughing. Daichi immediately wants to cover his face to hide the fact that his cheeks are burning.

“Oh, I am so sorry. It was rude to laugh like that _at_ you but I know exactly how you are feeling.”

Daichi gives the young man a half-hearted glare.

“Everyone starts somewhere, you know. We wouldn’t be able to do much if we didn’t start somewhere.” the young man smiles at Daichi and it is a brilliant smile. He resists the urge to shield his eyes it’s so bright and cheerful.

“Do you mind if I sit here? I can help you if you’d like.” the young man says.

“No, go ahead.” Daichi says in a daze while scooting over in his seat.

“I’m Sugawara, by the way.” the young man says while extending his hand out to Daichi.

“Sawamura Daichi. Call me Daichi.”

“Nice to meet you Daichi. Where are you headed today?” Sugawara asks with his brilliant smile in place.

Daichi feels his heart start to speed up. “Work.” Daichi looks down at his knitting with a forlorn expression on his face.

“Ah, I understand. At least it’s Friday, right?” Sugawara asks, as he pulls a knitting project out from his backpack. “Or do you work on weekends too?” Slowing slightly as he finishes zipping up his bag again.

“No, thankfully, I don’t.” Daichi looks back at his knitting and sighs, “Do you know why my knitting looks like this? Why is it getting wider and so bumpy?”

“The reason it’s bumpy is because you’re just doing the knit stitch for every row. That look is called garter stitch. What you probably are thinking of for a ‘knitted’ look is called a stockinette stitch which actually involves two different stitches. A knit stitch for one row and the purl stitch on the second row. It creates that smooth look.” Sugawara doesn’t even take a second glance at it before saying, “As for why your work is getting wider...you’re adding a stitch whenever you start the next row.”

“How can you possibly know all that without looking at it?” Daichi asks with a pinch of irritation in his voice.

“It’s a common beginner mistake.” Sugawara smiles, this time, it’s a smartass grin.

“How do I make sure I don’t keep doing it?” Daichi asks staring at his pathetic “scarf”. It looks so frumpy and sad in Daichi’s hands. The beginning stitches Daichi ripped out and started over so many times that the yarn is beginning to fray. There was one point where Daichi made one of those holes that he had seen in other patterns but had no idea how he accomplished it. The sides of his scarf are getting wider and wider and thinner and thinner with every row.

Sugawara leans in closer to Daichi’s shoulder so he can see the work. Daichi’s face starts to feel hot at having Sugawara in such close proximity.

“See how your stitches are? At the end of this row, there’s a loop on the end from the last stitch you knit. What you want to do is make sure that you pull down on the work, just a little to see where your loops are ON your needles. That way you don’t knit through this loop and create an extra stitch.” Sugawara pinches a loop on Daichi’s needles to indicate where he didn’t want to stick his needle, which was, in fact where Daichi had been starting his rows.

“Oh.” Daichi says lamely.

“I did this when I was first learning to knit. My knitting teacher wasn’t nearly as nice about it when I asked what I was doing wrong.” Sugawara says, looking down at his knitting. “She wasn’t a very nice lady but she didn’t really deter me from knitting. If anything I just wanted to get better and better until I surpassed her talents.”

“Have you?”

“Probably not. She’s a crafty old lady.”

The two of them look at each other and burst out laughing. “Well, I totally didn’t mean it like that.” Sugawara’s laugh turns into a fit of giggles.

Daichi smiles at Sugawara, noting the way his eyes gleam with delight at the joke.

When they regain their composure, Sugawara is the first to speak again.

“Hey, Daichi. Do you know the knit shop in Block 7 in Sendai? They have a knitting circle on Saturdays at 10am if you’d like to join me.”

“I know the place, it’s where I got this little starter kit.” Daichi nods, “The girl working told me about it but I wasn’t going to go until I got a little better. But if you’ll be there, it’ll be nice to see a familiar face.”

“Great! It’s all pretty informal so don’t feel intimidated. They’ll probably be a bunch of old ladies that are excited that we’re there.”

“Why?” Daichi asks.

“We’re young and we’re men.” Sugawara winks at Daichi. The subway starts to slow down, “What’s your number Daichi? I need to get off after this stop.”

Daichi’s mouth all but hangs open at the request. “Uhhh. Sure. I mean, yes, okay. S-Shall I meet you outside the shop on Saturday?”

Sugawara smiles at Daichi’s sudden loss of composure, “Don’t be ridiculous. It’s cold outside. They’ll be more than enough room to wait inside for me.”

“Oh, right.” Daichi nods, heat creeping up into his ears now. He fumbles for his phone and manages to put Sugawara’s phone number into it properly. He sends a quick, “Hi, it’s Daichi.” text to Sugawara, who immediately responds with, “Great. This is Suga! See you Saturday. :D”

Daichi feels like there are butterflies trying to escape his stomach for the rest of the day.

*****

_Daichi: I don’t know if I can do this, man. The people there are going to be a lot more experienced than I am._

_Kenma: Stop. U don’t have to be the best to join a knitting circle. They will love the fact that you’re trying to learn. Don’t worry so much!_

_Daichi: You’re right. I shouldn’t worry. But there’s going to be a guy I met on the subway there and idk, man…_

_Kenma: That is going into an entirely different territory, Daichi. Focus on the knitting instead of the guy. U can flirt w him later._

_Daichi: Excuse me?_

_Kenma: Ur clearly interested, otherwise this wouldn’t have come up at all. Ask him for a coffee/knitting date. If he’s a knitter, he’ll most likely say yes w/o thinking about it._

_Daichi: How do you know?_

_Kenma: Knitters love coffee/knitting meet-ups. It’s a fact. lol. xD_

Since Daichi woke up on Saturday morning he and Kenma have been furiously texting each other. Finally, Daichi manages to summon up his courage and step out of the door to head to the knit shop.

It’s a cold morning walk to Block 7 from his apartment. The winter sun was shining bright but there isn’t any actual warmth in the air as he walks towards Block 7.

It isn’t long before Daichi notices he is getting close. He turns left and heads down the street. He looks up to see that the knit shop looks bright and inviting from the outside. The awning that is stretched out over the doorway was black with white script on it. Daichi never realized the name of the shop two nights ago because it had been dark when he had stopped in that night.

Sheep-ish.

Daichi groans at the pun but thinks it is clearly appropriate given how he feels at this particular moment. He pushes his way into the shop. The door tinkles as he enters.

Kiyoko looks up from behind the register. She has a massive binder and a few other spreadsheets sprawled out before her.

“Oh! I wasn’t expecting you to be here today! I was just trying to get a headstart on inventory before the others got here.” Kiyoko puts her hair up into a ponytail and starts moving her sheets out of the way, “Did you come for a lesson or the knitting circle?”

“The lesson. I have no idea what I’m doing.” Daichi says with exasperation. “I’m exhausted from looking online for everything.”

Kiyoko give Daichi a knowing smile, “Sure. Take a seat at the small table here.” she points to a small wooden table with two chairs off to the side of the register. Kiyoko hops off the stool she has been sitting on and goes to the door in back, “Grandmother, I have a lesson. Can you watch the shop?”

There is a shuffling noise and Kiyoko’s grandmother appears at the bottom of the stairs. She is shorter than Kiyoko and has a head of white hair. She looks like she is squinting at everything as she walks towards the register. Her grandmother doesn’t sit on the stool. She moves it aside and pulls out a small chair that has been tucked underneath the register’s counter space. She sits and her head is barely visible over the counter.

Daichi and Kiyoko sit at the wooden table for two. “Where would you like to start?”

“It’s more I have a bunch of questions that I want to ask and I wanted to ask someone more experienced than I am.” Daichi begins.

“Okay.” Kiyoko gives Daichi a small smile as she tucks a stray piece of hair behind her ear. “I’m listening.”

Daichi asks Kiyoko every question he had thought of in the past two days about stitches, technique, and even just asks if his scarf looked okay now. Kiyoko answers every single question, clearly and precisely so that Daichi can understand it. His head is starting to swim with information by the time the door tinkles again.

It is an older woman that comes in. She is bundled up for the weather which makes her appear much larger than she is. Which is impressively because it is clear that she is a tall woman with a big frame in the first place. She takes off her hat and scarf to reveal that she has very long grey hair.

“Morning, Mable.” Kiyoko’s grandmother calls out. “Did you enjoy your trip to see Meryl?”

“Good morning, Ms. Shimizu. Yes, I did. She’s going very well, thank you for asking.” Mable says politely before heading towards the long white table where the worsted weight section is.

Daichi looks at the time, it’s almost 10am. “How much do I owe you for the lesson?” he asks.

Kiyoko smiles, “If you’d like to come back we have that 4 lessons for 2800 yen offer going on still.”

Daichi smiles back, “I guess I should. It could come in handy.”

Kiyoko nods, “I think so. It’s like a security blanket for when you get stuck. You can just come in whenever it’s convenient for you rather than a set time every week.”

“That is nice.” Daichi nods too.

The door opens with another tinkle and this time, Daichi recognizes the face.

Sugawara.

His bright brown eyes immediately scan the yarn shop and land on Daichi. There’s an odd expression that passes over his face for a second before he breaks out into one of his brilliant smiles.

“Oh good, you came!”

“N-nice to see you again.” Daichi croaks. He clears his throat and swallows hard to get the sudden frog in his throat out.

Kiyoko gets up from the table. Daichi goes to pay for the 4 lessons at the register.

“Look at you, getting real lessons!” Sugawara teases Daichi as he hands over his coins to Kiyoko.

“Yeah, I figure if I need to ask strangers on a subway what I’m doing wrong with my knitting, maybe I need to get real lessons.” Daichi chuckles.

Sugawara’s smile is contagious and Daichi can’t help but smile back.

“Well, come on then. Sit down at the table and practice what you learned.” Sugawara says ushering Daichi towards the long white table, “You can sit next to me and ask as many questions as you’d like.”

Mable, who has settled in at the head of the white knitting table, smirks at this, “Eager as ever to teach others about knitting, I see.”

“Yes, yes. It’s a good hobby.”

“It’s an expensive hobby,” Mable counters, “but the end products are usually well worth it. To me at least, that’s why I keep doing it.”

“Absolutely.” Sugawara takes off his long tan coat with white fluffy trims around the wrist, collar, and buttons. He puts it on the back of the chair and sits down next to Daichi at the table.

Slowly, other older women come into the shop. Some join the circle and are greeted warmly. They sit and start to engage in friendly conversation while working on their projects. Sugawara was right, the older ladies loved the fact that the two of them are young and men. They had endless questions for the two of them.

There are other patrons that come into the shop and head straight to the register and ask for Kiyoko’s help in finding a yarn for a specific project. The late morning passes into early afternoon and before too long Daichi can’t ignore the soreness developing in his back from sitting for so long.

Sugawara stands and stretches. Daichi takes this as his cue to get up and do the same. “Want to walk around the shop?”

“Sure.”

They really don’t get too far before they stop to look at the worsted weight section. Daichi spots the gloves that grabbed his attention last time. He reaches out and touches the familiar feeling material.

“These are really nice.” Daichi says to Sugawara.

“Thanks. I made them.” Sugawara says.

“Wait. _You_  made them?” Daichi’s surprise couldn’t be contained on his face. He continues to hold the gloves in his hands as if he’s petting a strange rabbit in one hand.

“Yes. Sometimes Kiyoko asks me to knit sample projects for the shop because she doesn’t have the time to do it herself. She pays me for my time and just gives me the yarn I need to use.”

“But you made these?”

“Yes.” Sugawara gives Daichi a curious look.

“That’s really cool.” Daichi says, “I asked Kiyoko how long it would take me to get skilled enough at knitting to make these. She gave me quite the look when I asked.”

Sugawara smiles, “I’m sure she gets asked that a lot in here.” Sugawara puts his hand in his pocket before saying, “Well, if you want, I can help you make them.”

“I’m not ready to make something like this.” Daichi looked back at his scarf on the table. At least it stopped growing on the sides but the stitches are different sizes because of his uneven tension (one of the things he had asked Kiyoko about). “I don’t even know what kind of techniques are used for this.”

“You don’t have to start them today.” Sugawara says, while he absently starts touching a rather fuzzy looking yarn, “But I wouldn’t mind helping you when you’re ready to try.”

“If that’s the case, I get the feeling you’re going to be seeing me an awful lot.” Daichi smirks. He starts feeling foolish just holding onto the gloves so he puts them back on display where he found them.

“Daichi, we ride the same subway to work. We’d see each other anyway.” Sugawara says, starting to shuffle towards the finer yarns in the shop, slowly looking up and down the cubbies as he goes.

“Do you want to meet somewhere else then? That way it doesn’t feel like I’m harassing you in public.” Daichi sucks in a breath and blurts out what’s been on his mind since he saw Sugawara walk through the door, “Do you want to go for coffee sometime?” Daichi asks.

“Sure.”

“What?”

“Let’s get coffee sometime.”

“Are you sure?” Daichi asks.

Sugawara huffs, “Don’t worry if it feels like I’m pulling teeth trying to teach you, at least I’ll have coffee to help me through it.” Sugawara says sarcastically, with a smile.

Daichi blushes, “Right. Yeah.”

Sugawara playfully prods Daichi’s arm with his elbow, “You’ve got nothing to worry about. I’ve had way worse meet-ups that I _had_ to go to.”

“Really?”

“Oh yeah, remind me to tell you about them later.” Sugawara winks.

“When do you want to meet?” Daichi asks.

“Monday, after work? There’s a nice cafe near my subway stop on the way home.” Sugawara asks.

“Okay,” Daichi says.

He looks back towards the knitting table and sees the whole table has basically heard this conversation. All the older ladies are trying to hide their smiles in their knitting and act as if nothing happened.

Except Mable, who catches Daichi’s eye and gives him a thumbs up before she continues on with her knitting.

**Author's Note:**

> More to come as soon as I can!


End file.
